1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to packages and containers, and in particular, pertains to drink or other containers having structures enabling addition of additives to the beverage or other component after sale of the containers and prior to consumption of the beverage or other component.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different types of packages have been designed having two compartments to enable product components to be kept separate until use and, in some cases, to allow one component to remain sterile until use of the product. For example, see U.S. Ser. No. 09/775,486, filed Feb. 1, 2001, which is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/598,792, filed Jun. 21, 2000, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6.209,718 on Apr. 3, 2001, which is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/949.465, filed Oct. 14, 1997, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,760 on Aug. 22, 2000; and U.S. Ser. No. 09/592,217, which is a divisional application of Ser. No. 09/265,453, filed Mar. 10, 1999, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,795 on Aug. 8, 2000, which is also a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/949,465, filed Oct. 14, 1997. Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,209,718; 6,105,760 and 6,098,795 disclose various delivery packages designed to contain an additive component. The delivery package is mounted in or on a main package and may be cut or punctured by a cutting means that is external to the delivery package when the user wishes to use the contents of the main package. These delivery packages may contain dried microbial cultures which are to be added to a food, liquid nutrition, medicine, or beverage product just before consumption, for the separate packaging of carbonation tablets from a liquid until just before consumption, and for separate packaging of vitamins or other unstable components before addition to a beverage, liquid nutrition, medicine or beverage before consumption. The main package may be a bag, such as an enteral bag or may hold a liquid beverage. The delivery package is preferably attached to the main package during the manufacturing process. The disclosure of all patents referred to herein is incorporated herein by reference.
In another type of two-compartment package, a stopper or other means is placed in the hole between the two compartments. For example, the two-compartment container of Halm (U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,321) comprises a one-piece container having two compartments assembled one upon another interlinked by a stoppered opening.
Other two-compartment packages utilize a perforating unit to allow the two previously separated components to mix. See, for example, the patents of Goncalves (U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,888 which has a glass defining a first compartment, which is provided with a neck upon which is mounted a bottle defining a second compartment, with a membrane between the two compartments that is perforated when a perforating unit is displaced relative to the glass, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,916 which has two units separated by a cover perforatable as a result of the manipulation of a mixing perforator). The two-part container of Wiegner (U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,772) has a frangible partition of coated aluminum foil dividing the compartments and a piercing member mounted on a resilient portion transversely directed toward the partition. In the patent of White (U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,934) rigid penetrating means are used to penetrate a compartment-closing diaphragm to allow nursing liquid to flow from the compartment to a communicating, attached nipple.
Two-compartment packages have also been previously developed which have an opening container attached to the top of the package and are provided with a screw cap and a cylinder jacket shaped supporting ring. The cylinder jacket shaped supporting ring is attached to the top of the package by means of a fixing flange externally surrounding the opening disc and is provided on its inner surface with a raised thread. The ring surrounds the external thread of the plastic screw cap. A cutter is integrally molded onto the free edge of the screw cap, and is provided with a front cutting edge, which passes at an angle through the free edge.
For such products as two-part epoxy glues, two compartments are also needed to keep the products from reacting, as in the patent of Wilkinson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,279).
The dispenser of Renault (U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,600) has two compartments separated by a sealing member sealed against a seat, so that movement of one of the containers relative to the other causes the sealing member to move away from the seat and form an annular passage between the sealing member and the seat.
In some cases, such as with aseptically-filled bottles or cartons, there is a need to provide a means for adding a selected separate first component to a package after manufacture of the package and/or at a location on the package, which component may vary in concentration and/or composition, depending, for example, on the patient""s history and diagnosis. Providing a means of attaching a first compartment to a package after both the first compartment and package have been manufactured allows a user to select both a particular first component to add to a package and the time and place of addition of the first component to the package. There is also need to have the capability to add beverage additives, particularly degradable or moisture-sensitive or oxygen-sensitive components (for example, vitamins) to liquid beverage bottles at or just before the time the beverage is consumed.
The types of structures used for many prior two-compartment containers are complicated and often subject to leakage. Thus, there remains a need to have two-compartment packages which keep a first component separate from a liquid component until use, so that the first component does not become wetted until just before use, that keep at least one of the components sterile until just before use, and in which the two components may be easily mixed just before use, and which has minimal or no leakage prior to mixing of the components and once the components have been mixed. For example, there is a need for such containers for the separate packaging of dried microbial cultures which are to be added to a food, liquid nutrition, medicine, or beverage product just before consumption, for the separate packaging of carbonation tablets from a liquid until just before consumption, and for separate packaging of vitamins or other unstable components before addition to a beverage, liquid nutrition, medicine or beverage before consumption.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device comprising a compartment attached to a container that keeps a first component, which may be moisture sensitive, from a second component, preferably a liquid beverage, until a selected time before use.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a compartment that has improved manufacturability and decreased leakage.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.
The invention herein is a device comprising a compartment attached to a container. The separate first compartment keeps a first component, which may be moisture sensitive, separate from a second component, preferably a liquid, until a selected time before use. The compartment has improved manufacturability and decreased leakage.
Other objects and features of the inventions will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.